Kalanick's testimony in San Francisco federal court marks the first time the Uber co-founder has publicly commented on allegations by Alphabet's self-driving car unit, Waymo, that Uber stole its self-driving car technology.

No doubt when Kalanick met the wide-eyed Fowler at the office Christmas party, it never entered his head that she would become the disciplinarian who confiscated his car keys for reckless driving with one blog post.

The startup and its ex-CEO failed to reveal at least six instances of malfeasance while "successfully soliciting billions of dollars in private investment," according to a complaint filed Tuesday as a class action in San Francisco federal court.

Dara Khosrowshahi was the dark-horse candidate, and his name didn't appear in public while other high-profile candidates such as HPE's Meg Whitman and GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt were known to be in the running for the job.